Our December meeting of Writers Anonymous went well, and we were excited to welcome two new members. An interpretive photographer, came and was both surprised and pleased by what our poets had written as inspired by some pieces of her photography. Who would have thought several poets could see entirely different things in a picture that spoke to the photographer in tones and nuances of color? It was a good exercise that will help us when we start the 2013 Poets and Painters Project. Because of the hectic pace of the holidays and how busy everyone has been, it was decided to postpone drawing names for the Poets and Painters Project until the regular February 7th meeting of Writers Anonymous. Deadline for requests to be included has also been extended, and the new deadline is February 6. Remember that Ashley Kitchens, Professor of English at Jeff State (Clanton campus) will be doing a free workshop on creativity at our January meeting. Ashley is both a poet and an artist, and the workshop will be appropriate for both. Be sure to bring pen and paper and your imagination. If you are a regular member of Writers Anonymous and can help with refreshments this month, please plan to do so and let me know what you are bringing. Our challenges for this month were many and varied. You can choose to do one or all of the challenges or none at all. Be sure to bring several copies of your poems if you are going to read. Several of this month’s challenges have to do with topics as follows: Bucket List: Some thing or things you want to see, experience, do before you die. Favorite Pet: Current or past critters you love(d). New Year: Or just a new beginning. The other challenge was a sonnet. Remember that a Shakespearean sonnet must be in iambic pentameter and is comprised of 14 lines…three quatrains (that is, four consecutive lines of verse that make up a stanza like we did as a challenge last month) and one couplet (two consecutive rhyming lines of verse). The quatrains should build up to the basic meaning in the poem, and the couplet should summarize or bring it to a conclusion. Format is as follows: A B A B C D C D E F E F G G Every A rhymes with every other A, every B with every other B and so on. For more information on the sonnet form, you can Google it or go to www.poets.org. You really should bookmark that internet website. It has lots and lots of good information. I've so enjoyed this past year of Writers Anonymous. Seeing people begin to write and then fall in love with the process has been amazing as has listening to so may styles and types of poems. The challenges have been just that…challenging. They have “stretched” me as a poet, and I have enjoyed hearing the different approaches each of you used to meet those challenges. I’m looking forward to the New Year, to the 2013 Poets and Painters Project, and to all the other things Writers Anonymous has planned both independently and in conjunction with the Arts Council. I hope you are too. Keep on writing those wonderful poems.